Packing system.



ebci-mcl csnn; PACKING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, I916- RENEWED JAN. 21, I918.

1,258,218. Patented Mar. 5,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

V flea/yea flI GkJJ/A' Witness: Inventor v Attorney STATES. PATENT onnicn. v

enoncn c. incxs, m, or comvansvirnn, INDIANA, Assieiicn To run r. n. a 3.1L-

noors comm, or conunnsmm, INDIANA.

' A rAcxme sYsrEiI.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed .Iune 10, 1916, Serial No. 108,081. Renewed January 21, 1918. Serial 80. 818,100.

.To an whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE C. HICKS, J r.,

a a citizen of the United States, residing at Connersville, Fayette county, Indiana, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Packing Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a construction of packing system adapted for use in connection with pumps of the rotary type, the object being to prevent the material being pumped from escaping along the-impeller shafts or from reaching the packing so as about a destructive effect on the v to bring packing.

It is not difficult, in pumping machinery dealing with liquid, to pack a shaft or red against the outward assage of the liquid. The difficulty of pac ing is somewhat but not seriously increased when the machine deals with steam, but the diflicultis much.

increased when the machine deals with gaseous fluids, owing to the insidious character of the fluid and owing to the destructive effects certain fluids, such as gas, may have upon the ordinary packing.

My invention hasin particular view the provision of a packing system for a pumping machine dealing with gas, the obJect of my invention being to preventtthe outflow of the gas past the packing and to prevent, gas reaching the packing to such extent as to act destructively u on the packing.

' In rotary pumps 0 the well known Roots type, them is a pair of cooperating impellers working within a suitable casing,- these impellers being mounted on shafts ro-- tated by appropriate means, the shafts pro- Jecting out through the end of the casing to receive connecting gears and driving mech anism. While in such a pump there are two shafts, with packing at each of the shafts, the present specification willtreat the pack milsystem in the singular.

' y invention will be readily understood from thefollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:--' a Figure 1 is a vertical section through one of the improvedpackings, in the plane of line aof Fig. 2; and f Fig. 2 an end view .of a double impeller pump fitted with. my improved packing systhe. lantern-ring: and

In thedrawings 1, indicates the general casing of a rotary 'ump of the well known Roots type:

2, t e end plates of the casing: 3, the shafts of the impellers, journaled in the end plates of the casing 4,the impellers secured to the impeller shafts and working together in the usual manner and having their ends in engageplates of the casing, as

ment with the end usual:

Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

' 5, the inner surfaces of the end plates,

the impellers elastic or semi-elastic material, compressed into the stuifingbox by the gland: Y 9, a lantern-ring, of known form, disposed at the inner end .of the packing-in the base of the stufling-boxythis lantern-ring consisting of a ring surrounding-the shaft and rovided with radial holes extending from its exterior to its interior:

. 10, an annular recess formed in theinner. I

surface ofthe end late of the casing around the shaft at the joint between the end plate and the end of the hub of the impeller, this recess, while shown as being formed in the iimer surface of the end plate of the casing finding its fullequivalent in an annular recess in the end of the hub of the impeller:

11, an outlet from the discharge side of I the casing:

of the shaft:

- 14, oil therein: I I

15, a conduit leading from the discharge side of the casing to the top of the 011 tank so as to cause fluidto the oil in the tank:

16, a conduit leading from theba se of perforations of I 105 the oil tank tothe radial 17, the discharge side of the pump. 1

Looking at Fig. 1 and disregardmg the i presence of the present invention, and as- 12, a conduit leading from outlet 11 to. therec'ess 10:. W 13, an oil-tank, disposed above the level press upon the top of i suming that the pump is'dealing with liquid,

some liquid might leak from the higherpressure part of the casing, between the end of the impeller and the end plate of the casing and seek to find its way outward alon the shaft to the atmosphere. The packing 8 would satisfactorily take care of such tendency toward outward leakage, and so, also, if the pump were dealin with certain characters of vapors. But 1n the case of certain fluids, gas, for instance, the pack 7 ing might not satisfactorily take care of the outward leakage of the fluid and, moreover, the gas reaching the packing might have a more or less destructlve effect upon it. It has heretofore been proposed to intercept such leaking fluid andto suck it away before it could reach the packing or pass the packing into the atmosphere.

In the present case, however, the oil goes from its 'tank 13 through pipe 16 and through the lantern-ring to the shaft. This movement of the oil is under the influence of the pressure at the discharge side of the pump, if there be pressure there, enhanced by the hydrostatic. head of the oil-column. The oil of course tends to move outwardly between the shaft and the packing, but the packing will. satisfactorily take care of such flow of oil, and such oil as does pass entirely outward of the machine may be caught and re-used. Any tendency of gas to work down between the end of the impeller and the end pump is-very much reduced, and oil will not of the casing against which it works, such gas naturally tending to move outwardly past the packing, is resisted by the oil at the.

initial end of the packing. In other words, the packing will satisfactorily take care of the outward flowing tendency of the oil, and

the oil will satisfactorily prevent the gas from escaping past the packing or from reaching the packing to such extent 'as to exert any seriously destructive influence upon 11:.

But as the leakin r gas tends to move toward the shaft un er the influence of the presure of discharge, and as the oil reaches the under the influence ofthe ressure of discharge plus the hydrostatic ead of the column of oil, there might be a tendency for the oil to move into the casing. Any

oil which gets past the packing and out of the stui'fing-box may be recovered, but oil going into the casing and joining the gas is ost,'and this loss would increase the consumption of oil. By providing the annular recess 10, between the end of the impeller and the end wall of the casing, and by keeping this recess under discharge ressure, throu pipe 12, the tendency of oi to pass into 1: 6

pass into the pump to any considerable. de-

It will, of course, be understood that oil employed in this system not only acts as a packing to prevent gas from'passing the main packing or from reaching the main packing to such extent as to exert a materially destructive effect upon the main packing, but also forms a lubrication between to the oilin'jected into the lantern-rmg a a pressure in some excess of that of any gas seeking to leak from the pressure side of the pump to the packing.

The presence of recess 10, constantly un Y der the discharge pressure of the pump, therefore tends to very materially reduce the leakage of oil into the pump, especially as the lower portion of the joint without the recess 10 would be under the lower pressure.

of suction. There is therefore established, uniformlyaround the shaft, an area of pressure greater than that at the suction side of the pump so that any leakage, to any degree worth considering, will be that of gas from the pressure side to the suction side of the pump, the leakage of oil to the pump'being inconsiderable, and leaking gas from the pressure to the suction side of the pump being fended away from the packin where it might produce injury to the pac 'ng, or

through the packing to result in wastage.-

Obviously the discharge pressure may or may not be above atmospheric pressure, and the invention is applicable topumps with a sIingle impeller'or a plurality of impellers.

armz- In a pump of the rotary impeller type a packing system comprising, an impellershaft projecting outwardilglthrough tire endplate of the caslng, a stu g-box carried by the end-plate around the shaft, a gland cooperating with the stufiing-box, packing disposed in the stufling-box and compressible by the gland, a recess formed around the shaft between the packing and the interior of the casing,-an oil-tank disposedabove the stufling-box, a conduit leading from the oil therein to said recess, an annular recess surrounding the shaft between the end of the impeller and the end-plate of the casing, and

a conduit placing the discharge side of the pump in communication with said annular recess and with-the upper ortion of the oiltank, combined substantia y as set forth. GEORGE C. HICKS, JR. Witnesses: p

v .C. 0. Alison,

J. M. SHADE. 

